One last prez poll before holidays

COLUMBUS

How about one last poll to close out this election season?

I know you’re sick and tired of them, and most of them this year were wrong, but Quinnipiac University’s Polling Institute was pretty close with its Ohio results.

And the folks at the Connecticut-based institute, which regularly gauges the opinions of Ohioans and others on issues and candidates, put out an interesting national poll shortly before Thanksgiving that’s worth a second look.

The latest survey included 1,071 voters nationally and was taken a little more than a week after the election of Donald Trump.

Here’s what respondents said:

Fifty-nine percent of those questioned said Trump should shut down his personal Twitter account, which almost daily makes headlines online. Thirty-five percent said he should keep the account.

The same number, 59 percent, said they are “optimistic about the next four years with Donald Trump as president,” versus 37 percent who said the opposite.

Forty-nine percent said Trump will be a “great” or “good” president,” while 43 percent said “not so good” or “bad.”

A little more than half of those polled said Trump’s policies will help the nation’s economy, versus 31 percent who said his policies would hurt it and 11 percent who don’t think they’ll make a difference.

There were mixed responses on Trump’s personal qualities – 52 percent said he is not honest, 56 percent said he has good leadership skills, 51 percent said he cares about average Americans, 57 percent said he is not level-headed and 74 percent said he is a strong person and intelligent.

On policy issues, the results also were mixed – 53 percent said Trump will take the country in the right direction, 50 percent don’t think he’ll bring health care costs down, 66 percent think he’ll create jobs, 58 percent think he’ll keep the country safe from terrorism, 50 percent don’t think he’ll defeat ISIS, and 74 percent don’t think he’ll get Mexico to pay for that oft-mentioned wall.

Sixty-one percent of voters said they think Trump, as president, “will act better than he did during the campaign.”

Voters were pretty evenly split when comparing Trump to President Barack Obama. Forty-one percent think he’ll be a better president than Obama, 40 percent who said he will be worse and 11 percent said “the two will be about the same.”

Finally, 36 percent of voters said they feel better about Trump’s behavior since the election, versus 14 percent who feel worse and 50 percent who feel the same.

“Voters tell President-elect Donald Trump, ‘You’ve got the job, now be a leader not a Tweeter,’” Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a released statement. “And we’re watching to make sure you put the country, not the Trump brand, first.”

He added, “The consensus among voters: He won’t get Mexico to pay for the wall, and he won’t take out ISIS. He’s not honest, nor is he level-headed. But he’s got strength and leadership. His promise of more jobs and a better economy carry a lot of weight.”

And now you can go decorate the tree, spread some yuletide cheer and ignore political polls until next year, when we fully launch into the 2018 campaigns.

Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. Email him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.